Jacob deGrom has now made 177 starts in his Major League career and allowed one or no runs in a record 83 of them. In those 83 games, deGrom has a 0.65 ERA and 32 no-decisons.
Yes, you read that right, 32 no-decisions. And only 49 wins.
For some reference, there’s 12 other pitchers with 83 games of one or no runs allowed in a start and the lowest win total among them is Jose Rijo with 55. The pitcher with the second highest amount of no-decisions under these circumstances, is Woody Williams with 25.
Unfortunately, for Jacob, this happened on Wednesday against the Marlins. DeGrom was in complete control the entire night, allowing only one earned run on two hits.
He allowed a leadoff double and an RBI groundout in the fourth inning, other than that, the two-time Cy Young winner was dominate.
DeGrom’s final line: 7 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 104 pitches/67 strikes
When Mets lefty Justin Wilson entered from the bullpen in the top of the eighth inning, New York had a 4-1 lead. Three of the first four batters against Wilson singled to load the bases with one out.
Edwin Diaz entered and got the first batter he faced to strike out swinging, it was all downhill from there. A single by Jesus Aguilar made the game 4-2 and a bases loaded walk Corey Dickerson brought the Marlins within a run. Diaz was removed from the game due to a cramp.
Right-hander Brad Brach came in for Diaz, and walked the first batter he faced to tie the game at 4-4. Brach was able to get Lewin Diaz to flyout to keep the game tied and give the Mets offense a chance.
Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the eighth inning and was replaced by pinch runner Billy Hamilton. Wilson Ramos would deliver a much-needed two-out RBI single to give the Mets a 5-4 lead.
In the top of the ninth, Jeff McNeil came up big in helping Brach secure the save. With one out, Jonathan Villar appeared to have stolen second base safely, but a booth review showed that McNeil’s foot blocked the runner from ever touching second base and he was called out. Miguel Rojas would end the game with a fly out and the Mets got a 5-4 win.
Back to the incredible deGrom that tied a career-high with 14 strikeouts. It was the 43rd time in his career that he had double-digit strikeouts, that ranks third in Mets history behind Dwight Gooden (46) and Tom Seaver (60).
DeGrom’s four-seamer fastball (topped out at 100.3 mph) was damn near unhittable on Wednesday night, he threw the pitch 67 times and had a 45% whiff rate with the heater. He also had 12 called strikes on his four-seamer and 14 foul balls, the Marlins were only able to put it in play three times. A whopping 12 of his 14 strikeouts were finished out with his four-seamer, nine of them swinging.
Overall, deGrom thre whis four-seamer 64.42% of the time, the highest for a game since May of 2016.
DeGrom lowered his season ERA to 1.80 (fourth in the NL) and his 12.6 K/9 ranks second among National League starters.
In terms of career achievements, the big game pushed deGrom’s WAR to 37.0, sliding him past Jerry Koosman (36.9) for fourth on the Mets all-time list.
